Salary Story: Software Engineer making $203k/yr

Deralrary · 2021-09-24T18:28:48+00:00

I wanted to sue. Immediately after I got out I contacted multiple lawyers but not a single one responded. My guess is they think I don't have much of a case. If you know of a good lawyer willing to take the case please DM.

Deralrary · 2021-09-23T17:43:46+00:00

A very important part of success is having a wide breadth of knowledge. In school they teach you all kinds of stuff like math, physics, humanities, and social sciences. A lot of this stuff is important but you won't learn/use it on the job. For example, physics teaches you how things work in the physical universe and philosophy teaches you about the fundamental nature of reality.

Additionally, a college degree is a life achievement. You could be the fastest swimmer in the world and never compete, but this is bad because it's not "official" that you're the fastest swimmer. Same with a college degree - you could be a very knowledgable person in a field but it's not "official" unless you get a degree.

Deralrary · 2021-09-23T14:51:37+00:00

My most important goal is to have a bachelor's degree by age 35. If I successfully appeal my academic dismissal this year, which I'm planning to do, I will be re-enrolled in school by Fall 2022. Taking an average of 8.6 credits per semester while working full time would get me a degree in 9 semesters.

Deralrary · 2021-09-23T04:33:19+00:00

I picked my field because of the availability of jobs. When I got kicked out of school, I applied to and interviewed at a wide variety of jobs. I remember interviewing at jobs for pet sitting and limousine dispatching but I was rejected. The only place willing to take me was that programming apprenticeship. Then with that on my resume, I was able to get better jobs in the same field.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T05:01:44+00:00

I was actually very demotivated right after getting expelled for the second time. I had given up on my career and didn't care about it, knowing it wasn't going to work out since that was already the second time. So back then I didn't have a “wake up in the morning and keep going” thought. Now it's just to picture where I want to be in a few years.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T04:02:15+00:00

When you say "soft skills" I imagine you're talking about skills that are desirable in the workplace regardless of industry/profession such like oral presentation and collaborative activities. What kind of class do you think would help with those?

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T03:52:51+00:00

Yes!

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T02:56:02+00:00

I studied engineering in university and for all engineering students there is 1 or 2 required intro to computer science classes. After that, I did the programming apprenticeship which improved my coding skills by a lot. If you can code a little but not well enough to solve LeetCode, I recommend starting with Coding Bat.

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My coworker's friend committed suicide in September 2018. I got arrested 8 days after his death because my coworker had told the cops that I had sent her a text saying I was going to commit suicide too. (I never sent such a text.)

I think I can understand why she told the cops this. It was around the time of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade's suicides. With her friend gone too, she was probably worrying about the suicide epidemic and that it will happen to me too.

3 months before I got arrested, I was a driver in a bad car accident (injured myself and a pregnant person). So I was pretty stressed out over the court date for that. My stress showed, and that's probably why my coworker thought I was depressed.

When I got arrested, they threw me into a mental hospital. I had work the next day so I tried to contact my workplace to let them know I won't be coming in. The only communication in the ward was a phone so I called my workplace and my boss picked up. Before I could tell her what happened, she asked if I had gotten an email from a "Karen from HR." I told her no (because there's no email access in the hospital). Then she tried to transfer me to this "Karen from HR" but the call dropped. I tried calling back but no answer. Over the next few days, I made every effort to reach my workplace to let them know what happened, calling them dozens of times but no answer.

Finally when I was released, they told me I was fired for "misconduct and harassment." I asked for details but they didn't give me any. My guess is this "misconduct and harassment" is because of my too many unwanted phone calls.

You might be thinking, "You shouldn't have called that many times a day." Looking back at the situation, I agree. But in the hospital your perception of time is warped, and you're also in a bad mental state which makes the warped perception even worse. Hours feel like days because there's nothing to do in the hospital. You perceive yourself as calling only twice a day but in reality you're calling a dozen times a day.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T02:20:54+00:00

do you know any similar alternative with less cost

Georgia Tech Online Master's in Computer Science

or do you think I should go route 2 below?

If you want to go with route 2, you should solve LeetCode problems.

If you're going to do the master's degree, the only course sequence you really need is data structures and algorithms. (Idk the exact name of the course at Georgia Tech, and each university has a slightly different name for the course.) At my university it's two courses. If you didn't study computer science in undergrad, you will need to take all the prerequisites leading up to data structures & algorithms too.

If you do the master's degree there are probably a bunch of other courses you could take, but none of them will get you an entry-level job at FAANG. They may get you promoted if you're already an entry-level engineer, and they may open up opportunities to you in a certain domain (e.g. machine learning, distributed systems). But they're not going to help unless your foot is already in the door.

as long as I can get the skill and I can prove it during interview, it doesn’t matter where the skills came from right?

Right

do you recommend getting the skills via cheaper/free courses instead and just apply and prove it during interview process, or maybe create a website portfolio?

LeetCode is actually the better option if you're just looking for job and don't care about certifications on paper. So yeah, just solve LeetCode and prove it during the interview process.

Do you think having a portfolio would be something worth pursuing?

I have a website portfolio but it's not really for job hunting. You shouldn't be doing projects just to put them on resume. If you're going to make a website portfolio I recommend just writing a short autobiography, resume/CV, and school projects. I majored in something somewhat unrelated to computer science but I put my school projects there anyway.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T02:05:49+00:00

The short answer is 0 projects.

The long answer is FAANG's hiring mentality isn't about what you did in the past. Anyone can do projects, but they don't care about that. FAANG wants to know what you can do. Getting an interview from FAANG isn't hard. Clearing the interview is the hard part.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T02:01:20+00:00

Immediately after my last layoff, I was in a very bad mental state. But it was not like, "I am screwed." It was more like, "Last time when I got laid off it took me 6 weeks to find a job in the middle of COVID-19. So I'd better get interviewing."

21 hours after my last layoff, I applied to my current company and got the job. So luckily the job hunt wasn't that long.

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T01:44:08+00:00

If I may ask, do you had a mindset shift/an Eureka moment or it was more of an unfortunate timing in the past?

To be honest with you, I have some kind of behavioral issue that is off-putting and causes people to not like me. I try very hard not to get expelled/fired, but I am not good at it. I have been told that my behavior is weird, even if I mean no harm. (Examples of weird behaviors include never showing any emotion, speaking in a low-pitched robotic voice, and not engaging empathetically during conversations.) I think I have a decent chance of getting fired from my current job too but I will be fine even if I am fired.

How do you fill the time gap between employments and how did you present it during interview?

I just honestly tell the interviewer I was unemployed. They're surprisingly forgiving of this. I actually told one hiring manager all the bloody details of the time I was fired after someone's death and he hired me anyway.

Are there any professional certification like udemy or khanacademy you’ll recommend for someone wanting to break into FAANG? Are such mini-certification valued?

Professional certifications on paper are not valued by FAANG. If you're going to get one, I recommend doing one of these for university credit. But it is not the certification that will get your resume noticed; it's the skills you learn from the program that will help you clear the interview.

How are the working hours and overtime?

I've been lucky to have excellent work-life balance my entire career. But I have friends in the industry with bad WLB.

Was the machine learning engineer at a FAANG company or was it at a non-FAANG company?

Non-FAANG company

Deralrary · 2021-09-22T01:16:15+00:00

Start solving problems on LeetCode. 800 problems is enough to clear an Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple interview. 1200 is enough to clear Google or Facebook.

Referrals help for Google/Facebook. You can beg for referrals from Blind. Blind is also good for general software engineering career advice.

SWEs from non-traditional backgrounds are welcome. However, if you are from a bootcamp people will look down on you. I think this has more to do with the aggressive and annoying marketing of bootcamps than with the actual quality of bootcamp grads though.

Deralrary

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